Hoshi no Hikari
by Lucathia Rykatu
Summary: Star's Light. A collection of prequels and side stories to Hoshi ga Hoshii desu. 1.Hao's next life flashes before him during his defeat 2.Macchi discovers that she can't understand her teammates because of language problems. 3.The Shaman King is born.
1. Hoshi no Hikari

H O S H I – N O – H I K A R I

"Star's Light"

by Lucathia

**A/N:** This is a collection of prequels and side stories to the Hao-centric fic, Hoshi ga Hoshii desu. This first chapter is a prequel dedicated to **_Ryumasa the Ryuhaitou_.**

**Spoilers: **Beware of spoiliers for the main story, Hoshi ga Hoshii desu. This prequel contains spoilers specifically for chapter 43. It is recommended that you read this prequel only after you have read up to chapter 43 of HgHd. If you haven't read that story though, perhaps this will give you a taste of what that fic is about. And of course, there are also spoilers for the ending of the Shaman King anime.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Shaman King.

**Summary:** They say that your life goes before your eyes the moment before death...but what if it was your next life, instead? Hao during the final battle.

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**Hoshi no Hikari: a HgHd prequel**

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He wasn't afraid of death.

He had already died twice after all, and both trips to the fiery caverns of Hell had only strengthened his spiritual powers. Even if he died again this time, he would just waltz through the afterlife as if he owned the place. He would reincarnate 500 years later, participate in the Shaman Fight again, and retry at obtaining the Great Spirits.

Not bad, right?

But damn it, he was so close to obtaining the Great Spirits, even closer than last time when he had escaped with only the Spirit of Fire. This time, his Spirit of Fire had consumed the Great Spirits. This time, he had already merged with the Great Spirits. The Great Spirits should have been entirely under his control, and it certainly felt like it. It didn't matter that Opacho was quivering behind the pillar, scared of who she had entrusted her life to. It didn't matter that his brother's weak friends were all sprawled across the floor, watching him in horror. It didn't matter that Yoh was staring at him with the determination to kill him.

Nothing mattered.

Nothing mattered with the power that coursed through him.

However, when Yoh came running at him with a single thought on his mind, he knew that something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

_I have to stop him!_

Okay, that was Yoh's thought and only thought.

But what the heck were all the other thoughts crowding his mind?

_Do you think he's up to it?_

_He's strong, that's for sure._

_But he killed me and he killed you! Why should we accept him?_

His eyebrows twitched as he danced around Yoh's attacks. He was getting distracted by all these stray thoughts and he knew that they were talking about him. He disliked how they were talking as if he couldn't hear them!

_Do you see anyone else who is more suitable for the position? No right? He's the strongest here._

Damn right that he was the strongest here!

_But we can't let someone like him become the Shaman King..._

_Hm...maybe we can do something about that._

_Like what?_

_How about this?_

How about what? What the heck were they talking about?

_That might work._

What might work? What were they going to do? Suddenly, everything felt out of his control. No...everything was out of his control.

_Let's do it then!_

He didn't even have a chance to feel surprised when he became surrounded by light. The light was so bright that he couldn't keep his eyes open. The light immediately blocked his view of Yoh. He suddenly felt himself thrown backwards.

"_Hao-sama has forgotten me?" Macchi whispered, her knuckles turning white from her death grip on the table._

What? Where had that come from? Why would Macchi ask that?

"_What's your name?" asked a young boy with dark hair and startlingly blue eyes. "Can't you even tell me your name?"_

Of course he could! His name was Hao. Asakura Hao, the great ancestor of the entire Asakura family...

_He stared at himself in the mirror, briefly touching it. Why couldn't he even recognize his own reflection?_

What? He knew how he looked!

_The little boy dropped a bundle of clothes in front of him, the clothes passing through the transparent spirit of a tabby cat. The boy picked out an extremely plain t-shirt, happily showing him the star pattern on it._

Was he...dying?

Didn't people say that you saw your life flash before you right before you died? He knew that there was some truth to that belief. Being an expert at dying and coming back to life, he had already experienced pre-death visions twice.

_Teenagers surrounded him, curious at how he was faring on his exams. Someone who was probably a teacher was trying his hardest to ignore him as he taught the class. _

Something was wrong this time though.

These weren't his memories.

_He walked alongside a young man towards the Subway, making light conversation as they got on the train. _

He wasn't afraid of death. He wasn't...

He struggled to stay awake, to keep the light from devouring him.

_Do you wish to become the Shaman King?_

It was those voices again, those voices that didn't belong in his head.

_The store clerk looked slightly perplexed as he told him how much he had to pay._

Damn it, of course he wanted to become the Shaman King.

_Do you accept our test?_

What?

_A woman with her hair in a long, loose braid set another plate in front of him. After she did that, she sat down and served herself some food. She smiled at him warmly, telling him to start eating._

He gulped.

_The little boy sitting next to him snatched away a piece of meat before he could. It resulted in an intense battle of chopsticks._

This life that he was seeing, this life that he knew wasn't his, this life that was plain boring and uneventful, was one that was so strangely...comforting? What the heck? Where had that thought come from?

He struggled to stay awake, to stay coherent, to stop himself from descending into this deceitful life. It didn't belong to him. He was Asakura Hao! He wasn't some lowly student who would willingly go to school and take some damn test. He wasn't some obedient kid who would sit at the dinner table with some motherly figure. Damn it, he was Asakura Hao, had been Asakura Hao for over a thousand years...

Despite how hard he tried to convince himself, it was a losing battle.

Against his own will, his eyes slowly closed.

The Great Spirits separated from him, leaving the boy alone underneath the wide expanse of sky, far away from the previous battlefield, waiting to be found and shown a different life.

Farewell, Asakura Hao. We look forward to the day you return to us.

And then, Asakura Hao as everyone knew him was no more.

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The End

(or the beginning, however you want to think about it)

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**A/N:** Information about prequels, sidestories, and whatnot, can be found in my livejournal (you can find a link to my livejournal from my bio/info page).

More sidefics to come! If you have any sidefic ideas you'd like to see, message me and we can talk about it.


	2. First Meeting

H O S H I - N O - H I K A R I

"Star's Light"

by Lucathia

**Notes:** This is a sidefic and yet another prequel to Hoshi ga Hoshii desu. Remember Macchi's comments about how she, Kanna, and Mari didn't speak the same language at first and Hao had to be their translator? (mentioned in chapter 32: their whereabouts part 1 in HgHd) Well, here's the story behind it.

**Disclaimer:** Shaman King belongs to its rightful creators.

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**First Meeting: a Macchi sidefic**

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When Hao-sama first came for her, he had a rip in his cloak. She didn't know why she had noticed that of all details when dead eyes were all she presented to the world. But she noticed it, and it bothered her.

It wasn't until much later that she made the connection. If she had to pinpoint the exact time, she'd have to say that it was when she first saw Lyserg in America. It was then that she thought, "Ah, so that's what Hao-sama must have been doing before he came for me."

He hadn't come for her specifically. He had come to England for Lyserg. She was just what was conveniently "on the way."

Nevertheless, he as her savior had appeared before her in a bout of flames when no one else had bothered. He had worn that same deceitfully benign smile that he presented to everyone, friends and foes alike. She didn't recall ever seeing a genuine smile on his face.

"Hao-sama, where are you taking me?" She had asked, timid before this person who looked no older than her, yet was in fact so much older and so much more experienced than she. She couldn't even imagine the depths of his knowledge and power.

His head turned slightly, his eyes hidden in his smile.

"Ah, you'll know when we get there."

So she followed blindly without another word, climbing onto the back of a flaming, gigantic spirit that she later came to know as the Spirit of Fire. She tried clinging to the spirit, afraid that she'd fall off, but there wasn't anything to cling to. As the spirit took off, she felt herself slipping, scrambling to stay on. All the while, Hao-sama just sat there, his arms folded, his legs crossed, exuding so much confidence that she quickly straightened up, glancing down hesitantly towards the Earth which was so, so far away. But she wasn't afraid. She gingerly dangled her legs over the edge, giggling as she did so. It might have been from nervousness. It might have been from excitement.

Did it matter?

For once, she felt liberated.

That night, she was introduced to two girls who would become her close companions. Kanna and Mari. They formed a strange bond, one that wasn't based on their trust of each other, but rather on their loyalty to the one who had saved them from the bottomless pits that were their lives.

She had a hard time accepting that they were outcasts of society just like her.

Kanna was tall, much taller than she could ever be. Kanna towered over her with long flowing hair that was the envy of any girl. She had one cigarette to her mouth, the smoke curling up around her. Kanna was someone you'd call "pretty" or maybe even "beautiful."

Mari, on the other hand, was the opposite. She was petite. She was blonde. She spoke in an endearing way. When Macchi first saw her, Mari was clutching a doll to herself tightly. Anyone's heart would have melted at that sight. If Kanna was "pretty," Mari was "cute."

Where did that leave her? Of course, she had been dwindling too much on appearances, but at that time, it wasn't like she knew them yet. She felt inadequete, like she didn't belong, even though all of them were outcasts.

The three of them stood there staring at each other. Hao-sama had raised an eyebrow at their silence. Unable to stand the awkwardness, she made the first move. If she couldn't be pretty, if she couldn't be cute, at least she could be herself, and she'd be damned if she couldn't at least break the awkward silence.

"I'm Macchi. And you two are?" She had said, loudly and clearly, proud and tall. Well, not as tall as Kanna had been standing, but good enough, considering her height.

When the blonde girl responded, however, Macchi's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Che lingua state parlando?"

And when the tall girl responded, Macchi's jaws dropped.

"Ich verstehe nicht!"

Macchi smacked her head against the wall before pointing an accusatory finger at Hao-sama. The other two girls had their lips pursed.

"They don't speak English!" complained Macchi. "How are we supposed to talk to each other then? Point like barbarians?"

"Like what you're doing right now?" retorted Hao, amused at their demise.

She retracted her finger hastily.

"Sorry...but still, what are we supposed to do?"

Hao-sama shrugged before addressing each of them in their own language.

"I want all of you to learn a common language. What better than Japanese?"

And so began their days together. They didn't spend them plotting on how to take over the world or how to exterminate all the humans or even how to gain more power. They spent those early days...learning Japanese.

* * *

_omake: _

"Hao-sama, can you please tell Mari that I'm going to the bathroom?"

"Hao-sama, can you tell Macchi that her pumpkin is stealing my cigarettes and that she better make him return them?"

"Hao-sama, Mari's braids have come untied. Kanna is good at tying them. Can Hao-sama ask Kanna for Mari?"

"Hao-sama-"

"Spirit of Fire, roast them."

"Hao-sama!" wailed three voices at once.

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**the end**

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**A/N:** Anyone remember me? Well, as promised (a long, long time ago), here's another sidefic set in the HgHd universe. And so yes, I'm making this into a collection of side stories to that fic. Updates will most likely be infrequent, just when another sidefic idea hits me. I have...five or so planned so far, but don't know how soon they'll get written, or even if they will get written. Though by now, people must have forgotten about this fic universe. (smiles sheepishly)

If anyone has any sidefic ideas, PM me and we can talk about it!


	3. Birth of a Shaman King

H O S H I - N O - H I K A R I

"Star's Light"

by Lucathia

**Spoilers:** This companion piece to HgHd contains spoilers for up to chapter 44 of Hoshi ga Hoshii desu. Consider yourself warned!

**Notes: **Think of this ficlet as a missing scene from chapter 44. It's what a continuation/sequel might have focused on. The original chapter 44 didn't go into as much detail about all this for the sake of mystery.

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**Birth of a Shaman King : A companion piece to HgHd**

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He wasn't naive enough to think that he could waltz right back to Sora and Tsuki after becoming the Shaman King. Becoming the Shaman King meant that he had a duty, and that duty was a demanding one that would command his attention for the rest of his life. His recent acquiring of the Great Spirits brought his duty to the entire world to the frontmost part of his mind. It nearly drowned out all thoughts he had of missing the family he had left back in Japan.

There was simply no time to miss anyone. When the light engulfed him, the rampage of memories that tore at him was even worse than what he had experienced in the convenience store. Back then, it had been merely his own memories that had flooded him, granted he had three lifetimes worth of memories, much more than anyone else could ever boast about. But the light...with the light came a billion years worth of memories...memories of life that the Great Spirits had touched.

They tore mercilessly at his mind, flashing by too quickly for him to decipher. They disappeared off into the shadows cast by the blinding light, but that gave him no reprieve since the next memory was already coming at him.

And so this continued.

He didn't know how long he stayed kneeled on the ground. He didn't even know when he had fallen to the ground, the palms of his hands grinding into the dirt. When the images started slowing down, he finally noticed the tingling pain from his palm and the tangy taste of blood from where he had bitten his lips.

The images stopped then.

He got up shakily, stumbling over to a nearby tree to right himself. When he touched the bark of the wizened tree, he suddenly felt himself stretching towards the sky, reaching upwards to bask in the warm sunlight. Birds nested on his topmost arms, and a trail of ants was crawling up his side. He was a tree that stood the testament of time; however, that was soon to change. On the far branches, a sickly black disease threatened to shrivel his leaves, leaving a path of curled, blackened leaves.

He gasped and backed away from the tree. He had almost lost himself there. For a moment, he had thought that _he_ was a tree. Taking a deep breath, he placed his hand on the bark again, this time focusing on the sickly disease he had come across.

When he walked away from the tree that day, the tree was as healthy as can be. There was not a spot of darkness threatening to spread across its leaves.

The tree was blessed to have been the first test of the new Shaman King's power.

* * *

_You're a natural at this._

He snorted at the remark that drifted to him from the Great Spirits. If being a natural meant almost losing his identity, then yeah, he was a natural. He was so much a natural that he almost thought himself to be a tree.

_Your memories...have they not returned?_

With a jolt, he realized that he knew this voice. The last he had heard this soft but powerful voice had been in England. He clearly remembered the man staring back at him with his defiant emerald eyes. Even when the man's house burned down around him, the man had not budged. He had not budged until a little boy ran in eagerly with his newly acquired spirit cupped in his hands to show his father.

He had watched amusedly when horror washed over the little boy's face. The boy's screams were too late, his display in his laughable power too little to even scratch him. It must have been the first time the boy had ever merged with his spirit. He had felt accomplished then that he had forced the boy to use his powers. He saw potential in the boy. He wanted the boy to join him.

It was a laughable desire when he had been the one who turned the boy away from him forever, creating a being bent on revenge. He was the one who had murdered the boy's parents without a second thought. That was the type of person he was.

"Liam Diethel. I remember you," he said.

_I see that your memories have indeed returned._

He closed his eyes and thought back to the fateful fight with Yoh. He remembered now. Those voices in his head had clearly not been his own. They had been from the Great Spirits. He had passed their test with flying colors despite not even knowing he was being tested. He was still vexed about being manipulated, but that feeling of his was dulled by a strange calmness that coursed through him as he sat on the smooth clay floor with the earth beneath him. He felt like one with the earth. That was the power of the Great Spirits running through his veins.

"You and everyone else have been strangely accepting of my becoming the Shaman King," he murmured, his eyes still closed.

_Oh, I approve of you._

"Even though I was the one who murdered you?"

_You've changed._

"If only things were as simple as that." He laughed. "If all things could be solved with a simple "you've changed," then there wouldn't be a need for a Shaman King."

He breathed out slowly.

"If I were you, I wouldn't trust me as the Shaman King. One year without my memories has not changed who I am."

_No, it hasn't. It has only reminded you of who you are at heart. Do you not remember the little boy who wanted to save the world with his own power?_

Oh, he remembered. He remembered the naive little boy he once was. He tried so hard to use his power to help people despite how taxing using his powers had been to him. He banished evil spirits for strangers and helped those people struggle through sickness and famine, but what had they done to repay him? They turned on him and thought him a monster. They threw his kindness back in his face.

"...remembering that little boy only makes me weary of the world," he murmured. He loved the world--it was _his _world, and it was full of vibrant life. The tree he had just cured was a mere taste of what the world held. But humans, those corrupted humans, were liars and murderers who polluted the very air he breathed.

He grabbed his head with his hands. Who was he to call people liars and murderers? He was a murderer himself. One year without his memories hadn't changed him, but it did distance him from his burning hatred. It calmed him, and now he felt more lucid than ever.

He stood up and dusted himself off, ready to head back into the village.

"Care to tell me who else is in there with you?" he asked. The other Hoshi had mentioned that the Great Spirits was made up of millions of spirits. Many of them were victims who had died by his hand. There was no way that all of them accepted him like Liam and the other Hoshi did. Besides, he'd like to know who was privy to watching his every move. He had never associated becoming the Shaman King with losing his privacy.

_...we are not all awake at the same time. You'll meet more of us in due time._

"Fine, be all mysterious like that. Let's go, Hoshisuke."

The entire world was before him. If he hadn't already been the strongest shaman in the world, he would have been become the strongest now that the Great Spirits was his. He had power beyond imagination--it was a frightening thought that anyone could have such immense power. With such power, who wouldn't play at being God?

The Shaman King, who looked to be a mere boy, made his way back to the village with his loyal cat spirit by his side.

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**the end**

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A/N: Not terribly exciting, was it? I was going to write about Hao tending to complaints he received, but I had to write this introspective piece before I could get into that.

After going through HgHd again to replace all the dividers, I'm starting to get plotbunnies for this story again! If any of you have ideas for sidestories/prequels you might like to see, PM me and we can talk about it.


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